How to create Font Book Collections and Smart Collections on Mac

Learn how to create Collections and Smart Collections in Font Book on Mac, which are ideal when you quickly need a specific group of fonts.

Smart font collection on Mac

If you work on different projects where you want or need to use specific text styles, the Font Book installed on your Mac is your go-to tool. With it, you can find and use fonts you didn’t know existed. Plus, you can install additional fonts and disable those you never use.

Another terrific feature of the Font Book is the ability to create Collections. Collections let you group fonts together for easy access. So if you need them for a Keynote presentation or Pages document, as examples, they are just a few clicks away.

Additionally, you can set up Smart Collections in the Font Book. Like Smart Albums in Photos and Smart Folders in Finder, Smart Collections group fonts based on criteria you set up. This gives you an effortless way to create collections automatically.

Here, we’ll show you how to create a font Collection and a Smart Collection in the Font Book on your Mac.

Collections in Font Book

If you already have several fonts that you want to group together, you can create a Collection directly in the Font Book. Plus, we’ll also show you how to set up a new one right from the app you’re using.

Create a Collection in Font Book

Font Book is an app you can find in your Applications folder or with Spotlight search. So open it up and get ready to create a Collection.

When you open Font Book, you’ll see some premade collections in the left-hand sidebar you can use. These include Fun, Modern, PDF, Traditional, and Web.

1) Click File > New Collection from the menu bar. You can also right-click in the left sidebar and choose New Collection or hit the plus sign at the bottom of the sidebar in old macOS versions.

2) The item will appear in Collections on the left. So give it a name and press the return/enter key.

Create Font Book Collection on Mac

3) To add fonts, simply drag one from another Collection or one of the libraries at the top, like All Fonts or Computer. Alternatively, you can right-click the Collection in the sidebar and pick Add Fonts.

Add Font to Collection Mac

If you have a font saved elsewhere on your Mac, click the plus sign at the top, browse for the font, and click Open.

Create a Collection in an app

If you’re using an app like Pages or Notes on your Mac, you can create a Collection right from the app. This is ideal for times when you discover a font you like, or a group of them, as you’re working on your project.

1) Depending on the app you’re using, you can right-click the text, go to Fonts, and pick Show Fonts, or click Format > Font > Show Fonts from the menu bar.

2) When the Fonts window opens, click the plus sign at the top of the Collection column.

3) Give your Collection a name and hit Return.

Create Font Book Collection in Pages on Mac

4) To add fonts, just drag from another spot within the Fonts window into your newly created Collection.

To edit a Collection, right-click it, and then you can rename, disable (deactivate), or delete a Collection.

Smart Collections in Font Book

If you’ve created other “Smart” items on your Mac for photo albums, contact groups, or mailboxes, Smart Collections in Font Book work the same way. You set up criteria, and when the app locates fonts that meet the criteria, they will be added to the Smart Collection. This takes the manual work out of creating Collections, especially if you plan to install new fonts often.

1) In Font Book, click File > New Smart Collection from the menu bar or right-click in the left sidebar area and pick New Smart Collection.

2) The pop-up window lets you first give your Smart Collection a name.

3) Next, choose All or Any from the first drop-down box. All means that every condition you enter must apply, while Any means any criteria you enter can apply. This only matters if you set up more than one condition.

4) Complete your first condition by selecting the type of item from the drop-down list. You can use the name, kind, language, or style of font.

5) Depending on what you choose in the first drop-down list in Step 4, complete the boxes to the right.

6) Click the plus sign button to add another condition if necessary or the minus sign button to remove one if you change your mind.

7) Click OK when you finish.

Create Smart Collection on Mac

You’ll then see your new Smart Collection in that section of the sidebar on the left. As you add new fonts to your Mac, those that meet your Smart Collection criteria will be added automatically.

To edit a Smart Collection, right-click it or select it and use the File and Edit menus from the menu bar. You can rename, disable, or delete a Smart Collection. You can also select Edit to make changes to the criteria.

Maybe you have a specific set of fonts you use to create web pages, write business documents, or customize charts. The Font Book on Mac is not just handy for finding new fonts but saving Collections and Smart Collections for quick and easy access.

Are you going to take advantage of this Font Book feature on your Mac? Let us know if the Collections you create come in handy and save you time!

Check out next: